ArchitectureInspired by Yeats, Wagner and French realist painting, the (W)rapper tower was meant to reawaken the city skyline. But is this monstrous erection just a monument to its designer’s ego?
A chunky grey staircase thrusts out from the side of a new office tower in Los Angeles, lunging towards a rail line before jerking back on itself and lurching up the building in jagged twists and turns. It crashes into a warped lattice of bands that wrap around the glassy hulk, swooping past corner windows that jut in and out like broken teeth.
Guide to gamesLife and styleFascinating card factsWithout cards, there would be no sarnies. You're probably aware the sandwich was named after the 18th-century earl. But do you know why John Montagu dreamed up his eponymous snack? Because he didn't want to leave the cribbage table to go to dinner.
Many individual cards have picked up nicknames over the years. For example, the four of clubs is often known as Ned Stokes, the Devil's four-poster, or the Curse of Mexico; the queen of clubs, Queen Bess; the nine of diamonds, the curse of Scotland; the king of hearts, the suicide king (because he appears to be stabbing himself through the head); the king of diamonds, the man with the axe; the ace of clubs, the horseshoe; the ace of spades, old frizzle.
EnvironmentHow the Kate Moss of gorillas gave Ziggy the hump at London Zoo's new enclosureAudio slideshow: inside the new enclosure at London ZooIt may have been a big day at London Zoo, but Ziggy, the western lowland gorilla, was resolutely refusing to cooperate. She glared balefully at the visitors behind the glass screen overlooking the zoo's new open air enclosure and then turned her back on them before focusing on the really important things in life, such as pondering a few sticks.
Health and climateGlobal development This article is more than 2 months oldJamaica’s dengue fever outbreak shows the deadly effects of record heat This article is more than 2 months oldGeorgiana Gordon-StrachanThe global failure to reduce fossil fuels is leaving small island states trapped in a constant cycle of fightback against disease and extreme weather
Read more: Health of billions at risk from global heating, warns report
In the summer of 2023, the world recorded the highest temperature in 100,000 years.
Private livesLife and styleIllustration by OttoI am 39 and live with my partner and my young son, whose father finished our short-lived and clearly ill-advised relationship when I was in the early stages of pregnancy. My son sees his father every fortnight and goes on holiday with him. We have always tried to agree things between us, but have also tried mediation twice, when our son was small.
I have always found my son's father's attitude towards money problematic.
Oprah Winfrey This article is more than 13 years oldOprah Winfrey: I'm no lesbianThis article is more than 13 years oldStar denies rumours of sexual relationship with Gayle King, 'the mother I never had, the sister everyone would want'Oprah Winfrey has denied rumours that she is a lesbian.
Her long personal and professional connection with Gayle King has sparked claims that the pair are gay, which Winfrey dismisses in a forthcoming interview with ABC television's Barbara Walters.
OpinionJournalism education This article is more than 10 years oldThe death of Dr V: ethics should matter more to journalists than storytellingThis article is more than 10 years oldBronwen CluneA Grantland article outing a trans person sparked a furore. Transparency doesn’t account for the fact that a journalist’s truth is not greater than that of their subjects
Sometime around 18 October 2013, Dr Essay Anne Vanderbilt died alone. She killed herself shortly after learning that details of her former life were going to be exposed by a journalist who regarded the fact that she was born male a point of fascination.
Top 10sNational short story prizeAhead of 2017’s National short story prize, Jon McGregor reluctantly chooses ‘swoony’ work from recent years showing some of the ways to write them well
This summer, I read the entries for this year’s BBC National short story prize, and discussed with my fellow judges the vexed question of how the “best” might be identified.
This was both a pleasure and a serious challenge: the form of the story is so capacious and diverse that at times we were comparing apples and pears, or at least looking at an unfamiliar fruit and arguing over whether to call it an apple or a pear.
A man walking with his dog in the early morning in Lower Omalo.Adventure tourists have thrown the remotest mountain region of the country an economic lifeline – but at what cost to ancient traditions and customs?
by Nadia Beard; photographs by Tomer IfrahThrough the Greater Caucasus mountain range that forms the northern belt of Georgia, the slim road of the Abano pass cuts a treacherous path. In fact the term “road” is a little generous; for 45 miles, this dirt track cut out of the edge of the mountainside swells and contracts as it snakes upwards to a height of 2,000 metres.
A memorial for Banko Brown outside Walgreens in San Francisco. Photograph: Sam Levin/The GuardianDeath of Banko Brown, 24, sparks outrage and calls for resources for San Francisco’s unhoused queer youth: ‘My people aren’t free’
by Sam Levin in San FranciscoBanko Brown’s messages had become increasingly desperate in recent weeks. The 24-year-old San Francisco community organizer was often shy about his struggles, but now he told loved ones he was unable to get a housing spot he’d long been pursuing, had been turned away from multiple shelters, and was forced to sleep on the train.